Three Fun Facts About the 2018 Yankees

Who doesn’t love quirky, fun facts? If you don’t, you can stop reading right now but doing so would cause you to miss out on learning more about the New York Yankees’ impressive roster, a roster that is expected to compete for a championship in 2018. The regular season is about a mere three-weeks away so to get you geared up and ready for Opening Day, here are some peculiar facts about this year’s Yankee team.

1. The Yankees Have a Historically Tall Team

The Yankees Opening Day roster is expected to consist of five players 6’6″-or-taller:

Dellin Betances: 6’8″

Aaron Judge: 6’7″

Giancarlo Stanton: 6’6″

CC Sabathia: 6’6″

Jordan Montgomery: 6’6″

That list sounds more like a starting five in the NBA. To put it into perspective, no team in MLB history has ever had five players – 6’6″ or taller – each appear in at least 25 games in the same season. Assuming all five players mentioned avoid significant injury, the Yankees would break the previous record held by four teams (Padres, Reds, Marlins, and Diamondbacks). Personally, I would not want to get into a fight with this team.

2. The Youth Movement is Legit

The Yankees’ expected Opening Day roster is not only tall, but it is also extremely young. The team figures to break camp with only seven of the 25-man roster (28%) 30-or-older:

CC Sabathia: 37-years-old

Brett Gardner: 34-years-old

Jacoby Ellsbury: 34-years-old

David Robertson: 33-years-old

Aroldis Chapman: 30-years-old

Adam Warren: 30-years-old

Dellin Betances: 30-years-old

Now, this is not to say that only seven players 30+ years-old will play for the Yankees in 2018, but in a perfect world, the Yankees would probably hope that that would be the case. How rare would it be? The last time the Yankees had fewer than 10 players 30+ years-old make an appearance in a season was in 1971 (nine). The last time the team had just seven? 1964. It’s only happened in 11 seasons since 1901, with 10 of those 11 instances occurring between 1911-1931. It might not happen in 2018, but it’s certainly possible and it would be quite the feat.

Note: All Ages are of 6/30/2018

3. A-A-Ron

Aaron Judge. Aaron Hicks. Aaron Boone. The Yankees are seemingly collecting Aaron’s left-and-right. Can you blame them after watching Key & Peele’s famous “Substitute Teacher” skit? The 2015 Philadelphia Phillies are the only team in MLB history to ever roster three Aaron’s in one season. Now, we are bending the rules slightly because Boone is the manager and not an active player, but we will count it. Maybe the Yankees trio can get some advice from the Phillies on how to avoid confusion within the clubhouse. I wonder if you could assemble a competitive team with only players named A-A-Ron.